HOLY IS HIS NAME (Part 2)
LUKE 11:1-4
INTRO. – God’s name signifies more than titles. It represents all that He is—His character, plan, and will. It is not because we simply know God’s titles that we love and trust Him, but because we know His character. Invoking His name reminds us of His character.
A name is powerful. Say a name and you automatically think of something about the character of the person associated with that name.
On page 51 in our hymnal is a song titled "Holy, Holy, Holy." I have sung that song many times not fully understanding the meaning of the word holy.
Last week we considered three truths about the holiness of God:
I. THE MEANING OF THE HOLINESS OF GOD
For many of us the holiness of God relates to the sinlessness of God. The holiness of God is that which makes God different than, anything or anyone else.
II. THE HOLINESS OF GOD
The foundation to understanding the holiness of God is to know the difference between the holy and the profane. I gave an example of the difference.
Ezekiel 22:26 says, "Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them."
The priest had taken the things that God intended to be different and distinct and had made them common or ordinary.
III. THE MANIFESTATION OF GOD’S HOLINESS (2 Kings 19:10-37)
I want to pick up where we left off and consider:
IV. THE HOLINESS OF PLACES WHERE GOD IS
A. Every place that God has been is holy because God has been there.
B. Allow me to give you several examples:
1. Heaven is holy because that is God’s special dwelling place.
a. 2 Chronicles 30:27 says, "Then the priests the Levites arose and blessed the people: and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy dwelling place, even unto heaven."
2. The ground around the burning bush where God met Moses was holy because God was uniquely present with Moses.
a. Exodus 3:4-5 says, "And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 4And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. 5And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground."
3. The tabernacle in the wilderness was holy because this was God’s unique dwelling place.
a. Exodus 25:8 says, "And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them."
4. The city of Jerusalem was holy because that was the one city where God dwelt or lived in a special sense and that made it unique and different.
a. Isaiah 52:1 says, "Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean."
5. Mt. Zion, the mountain on which Jerusalem is located is holy because that is the unique mountain where God dwelt for many years of history.
a. Isaiah 27:13 says, "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem."
6. The land of Israel is holy because it is the one place that God has chosen to dwell on planet earth.
a. Zechariah 2:12 says, "And the LORD shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again."
7. God’s throne is holy because he is uniquely present on his throne.
a. Psalms 11:4 says, "The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’S throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men."
V. THE HOLINESS OF THINGS OWNED BY GOD
A. Everything God owns is distinct and different because God owns it.
B. Allow me to give you several examples:
1. God’s covenant with Abraham is holy because God made it and established it with Abraham.
a. Genesis 15; Genesis 17:1-22; Galatians 4:22-31
2. The people of Israel were holy because God owned them. God repeatedly called them his people.
a. Exodus 10:3 says, "And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? let my people go, that they may serve me."
3. God called the Old Testament prophets holy because they were his spokesman.
a. 2 Peter 1:21 says, "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."
4. God calls his words holy. His words are different than man’s words. They are holy because he has spoken them.
a. Proverbs 30:5-6 says, "Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. 6Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar."
VI. THE APPLICATION OF THE HOLINESS OF GOD TO BELIEVERS
Transition: My father gave me the sir name Lewis. Along with that came responsibilities and privileges.
A. The bible teaches that believers are holy in position. This means that you and I as believers in God’s Son, Jesus Christ, are holy in the sense that we have been given a unique position.
1. What are the evidences for the fact that we as believers are holy?
a. The bible specifically declares that Christians are holy in position.
1. 1 Peter 2:9 says, "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:"
b. The term that is applied to believers in the bible over and over again in the New Testament is the term saints. The word saint literally means holy one. God calls us saints because as believers we are holy and refers to the unique holy position that God has given us in Jesus Christ.
2. What is the idea behind this statement that you and I are holy or that we have been given this unique position in Jesus Christ. The idea behind that thought is:
a. Remember that the opposite of holy is profane. That lays the foundation for this statement that we are holy.
b. You and I were born into this world in an unsaved state. We were all born totally lost, children of wrath by nature, in an unsaved state, member of Satan’s kingdom. Since every human being has been born into, the world in that condition that is what is common, ordinary, or profane. That is the majority.
c. But you see when God saved you he divided you. He cut you off from that. He separated you from that which is common or ordinary. He brought you out of your unsaved condition. He brought you out of membership in Satan’s kingdom. He brought you out of the realm of spiritual darkness. He made you a member of his kingdom. He made you a child of spiritual light. And since the common or the ordinary is to be unsaved, God has now divided you or cut you off from that through salvation in his son Jesus Christ, that makes you different from the common or the ordinary. That makes you distinct from the unsaved. It makes us a minority in the world. That is the idea behind the statement that we are holy people.
3. What is the basis for this holy position that God has given to us.
a. Remember that we saw a few minutes ago that every place God has been is holy and everything that God owns is holy.
b. With those two truths in mind turn with me to 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 where Paul is writing to believers and says, "What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you ..."
1. The Holy Spirit is a person of the Godhead. The Holy Spirit is deity. The Holy Spirit is God and the Holy Spirit is present inside the body of every Christian. We just saw earlier that the places that God is present are holy. And you and I as Christians have deity in the person of the Holy Spirit dwelling permanently inside our bodies that makes us holy.
b. But Paul goes on and says, ".... ye are not your own? 20For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s."
1. Who bought us? God did. What was the purchase price that he paid to buy us? The shed blood of his Son Jesus Christ that he shed on the cross of Calvary. That is Paul’s way of saying that if you are a believer you don’t own yourself any more. God owns you. Everything that God owns is holy. Since God is present inside the believer through the person of the Holy Spirit. And since He paid the purchase price through the shed blood of Jesus Christ every believer is holy. We have this unique position in Jesus Christ and we are different, distinct, and unique from any member of Satan’s kingdom. We are holy.
B. But there is a second application to the holiness of God as it relates to the believer and that is this: Believer’s are commanded to be holy in practice.
1. 1 Peter 1:14-17 where Peter is writing to Christian and says, "As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: 15But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. 17And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:"
a. When we took Christ as our Savior and God thereby purchased us and we became his property and he indwelled us through the person of the Holy Spirit. God became our Father and we became his children. Children normally have the same nature as their father. God’s nature is holy and since we are his children we too are to be different, distinct and unique in our conduct, in our actions, in our thought life, in our value system. We are to reflect the different, distinct, unique holy nature and character of our heavenly father to the world everyday in our existence on this earth.
b. God expects and requires his people to be different in their lifestyle and their actions from the unsaved of the world and the godless world system in which we live.
2. 1 Peter 2:9-12 says, "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: 10Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. 11Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; 12Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation."
a. Strangers and pilgrims are those that are different, distinct and unique in the world.
b. There is the word abstain meaning that as God’s people there are certain things that Christians are simply not to do.
c. We are to act like foreigners in this world. Part of that is to abstain from the godless lifestyles of the common or profane things of the world.
3. 2 Peter 3:10-11 says, "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 11Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,"
a. In essence Peter is saying, If you are going to live your life for the godless world system in which you are now living and follow its value system someday that system you are pursuing is going to be obliterated by a holy God and you will be left with a big fat zero. In light of that fact, we need to consider the kind of life we should be living. What should be motivating you, what should be taking up your time, what standards should you adopt, what philosophy of life should you adopt? Those of the godless world system, which, are going to perish, or those of the almighty holy God who was, is, and is to come, and who will never perish. Peter says we should make the decision, but we had better make the right decision as a Christian.
4. 2 Corinthians 6:16-18 says, "And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."
5. Notice 2 Corinthians 7:1 which says, "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."
a. God expects us to separate from the standards and value systems of this world. God wants his people to be different, distinct, to be holy from the common and profane of this world. There is a tendency in the church today to see how close we can live to the world and still be Christian. Because we are afraid that if we are truly holy then people will shun and laugh at us. But we must remember that Jesus Christ was willing to do that so that we might become the people of God.
